On Monday, the Knox County Commission met and selected an interim Fifth District County Commissioner to serve until 8/31/2016. There were seven candidates; Tamara Boyer, J. Kelly Clancy, David Freeman, Mike Manning, Ron Rochelle, John Schoonmaker and Grant Standifer.
In watching the meeting this morning (I watched the video archive on ctvknox.org) as I had a personal matter that took my time the last 2.5 weeks. The three candidates (in alphbetical order) that I was impressed with were;
Tamara Boyer, a very intelligent and capable Commissioner. She is in my opinion and the opinion and the opinion of at least one person that authored a letter of endorsement is that Boyer is a budget expert. Again, in my opinion the Commission does not desire an expert of any kind. That would mean they other 10 would have to take the lead of someone else.
Mike Manning, I am sure that Manning realized that his effort was not going to be successful with a rubber stamp Commission. However, Manning did not skirt from his belief when he said he believed that the Commission’s role is to poke, probe and challenge the Mayor. Manning went on to explain that Knox County has a populace County Mayor that is opposed to any discussion or consideration for any revenue measures other than no new taxes. (cue the Mayor’s hacksters that will now spew that Manning is a tax and spender, for the record that is NOT what Manning advocated.) Manning did raise a good question, if 15 years ago Hamilton County were run like Knox County is today, do you really think a VW plant would be there today? Manning does support an independent third party to study merging and eliminating city and county duplicated services. Of course the Knox County Mayor has already been on record with Betty Bean as supporting consolidation.
Grant Standifer, 10 years as a Pastor and 10 years as with Compassion Coalition gives Standifer a very broad experience to be an excellent Commissioner. Standifer has been married 38 years, he has been a Knox County resident for 23 years and in Farragut (in Knox County’s Fifth District for 19 years) The Standidfer’s have a son in local law enforcement. They also have a son and daughter in law that own a local business. Through the Compassion Coalition 231 churches in East Tennessee from Episcopalian to Pentecostal have been brought together.
When it came time to vote, on the first vote; Boyer received 3 votes, Standifer 2 votes and Schoonmaker 5 votes. On the second vote; Boyer received 4 votes, Standifer 1 vote and Schoonmaker 5 votes. On the third vote, Boyer received 4 votes and Schoonmaker 6 votes. Making Schoonmaker the interim Commissioner.
Boyers received the votes of Commissioners Amy Broyles, Randy Smith, Jeff Ownby and Commission Chairman Brad Anders. Schoonmaker receiving the votes of Commissioner Sam McKenzie, Charles Busler, Commission Vice Chair David Wright, Mike Brown, Bob Thomas and Ed Brantley.
A couple of odd things from the meeting;
Commissioner Busler asking Boyer what voting precinct she voted in and if she knew the fifth district boundaries and then asking Clancy how many precincts are in the fifth district and of the following three words which is Clancy’s favorite; growth, taxes or better schools. Busler then asked no other candidate any questions.
Vice Chair Wright said that one candidate gave me the answer I was looking for. The question he asked was what’s your agenda? The answer Wright was desiring to hear, to do the best I can that would be in my district. Wright indicated that to have a Commissioner without an agenda was important to him.
Here is the video from the almost 50 minute meeting from CTVKnox.org website.
One potential problem for Interim Commissioner Schoonmaker was his Chairmanship of the Board of Zoning Appeals and a vote on a rezoning for a residential development on West Emory Church Road and Westland Drive. The residents of the area are suing Knox County and their legal counsel Wayne Kline sent out a mass email advocating the appointment of Schoonmaker and with pending litigation could throw a wrench into the whole mess.
